A loud roaring sound filled Alex’s ears. All sorts of beautiful colors flashed with an exotic intensity outside of the car. She felt dizzy, like her body was simultaneously being pulled and pushed in all directions. This seemed to stretch on for a while, threatening to take her consciousness.
Suddenly, jerking her out of her fevered state, the car emerged out of the portal. The roar was replaced with the screech of tires. The next thing Alex realized was that she was being thrown from side to side in the car as the woman beside her lost control. Skidding back and forth, she felt the car’s anti-lock break system working overtime in an attempt to stop them. While it was unsuccessful, the trash bin they collided with was in stopping their advance. At once she heard the crumpling of metal and felt the force of the airbags protecting her from leaving the vehicle in a deathly manner: then, all was quiet.
She laid there for a moment, unsure if she was even alive. She laid there that is, until her adrenaline lessened, at which point she became acutely aware of her senses. An icy feeling gripped her, her entire body feeling like a fire being extinguished by a tsunami. Each molecule on her skin screamed at this feeling. A wave of nausea then flooded her body. As this happened she heard the car door open beside her as the driver fell out of the car and promptly started vomiting on all fours.
She herself resisted the urge, and opened the door. Climbing out, she wobbled on unsure legs for a moment before deciding to sit with her back against the car. Through gasps the woman on the other side of the car spoke into her headpiece, “Y-yeah we’re okay, there is no way we’re g-going to be able use this car ag-again though.” A few moments passed before she replied to whoever she was talking to. “G-give us a few minutes to recover and catch our senses, remind me to never use portals to travel again,” She gave a bright laugh, “That is disorienting as all hell. Give us 5 and we’ll get moving again-Muffin out.”
Alex wanted to say something, she opened her mouth but the words wouldn’t come out. Instead, she just let her head fall back against the metal and took in her surroundings. They were dwarfed by tall brick buildings, from the looks of it they were on a side street. Trash littered the the roads and sidewalks, which would tremble when gusts of wind passed over the ground. Storefronts rose on her left and right, glass shattered, doors ajar, abandoned. The buildings themselves, they looked worn, sad, old, forgotten. She craned her neck backwards, looking up at the sky, but where her mind told her there should be stars, was a discoloration. It was dark, down at ground level where she was at least, but light pollution from somewhere nearby was drowning the endless ocean out.
It was at this point her eyes had become properly acclimated, and on one of the doors was printed, “Midnight City Barbers.” She had never heard of a Midnight City, but she did not have long to ponder this for suddenly within her welled up a surge of emotions. This was the first moment she really had to process what had just happened to her. One moment she was at school, the next some man was trying to kill her, then someone else was protecting her, then they were running, then he was shot… it was all too much to process. Uninvited, tears started to flow down her cheeks and she started to sob. Her body shuddered with each exhale, letting the pain stream forth.
“There there… shhh… it’s going to be okay love,” the voice that had been so commanding earlier now rested gently on Alex’s ears. The young woman knelt down in front of the girl and gathered her up in her arms, rubbing her back slowly and said, “It’s okay, you’re safe now, let it all out.”
Each sob was let forcefully out, as she struggled with it all. This went on for some unknown amount of time before it finally slowed down and Alex started to catch her breath. The woman then spoke once more, “Alright love, I know this is a lot, but we really do need to get moving. We can’t get caught out.”
“Caught… out?” Alex asked.
The woman nodded, “Yes, I guess I have quite a bit to explain, what is going on and all.” She grabbed Alex’s hand and they began to walk the gridded streets, buildings creating a cover for them to hid in their shadows. “To put it bluntly this… this is the future.” As they walked much of the scene Alex had seen while they walked repeated itself. Cars sat abandoned, sad. Windows in shops and cars were broken in an attempt to scavenge anything left over. Street lamps stood tall, but dormant. The road itself was cracked into jagged slabs.
Puzzled, Alex asked, “This is the future? It doesn’t seem very… futuristic.” They passed through a chain link fence gate.
The woman let out a laugh, “Well, okay, this isn’t the future itself. We are in the old Midnight City. The new Midnight City lets off that horrible light pollution in the sky.” She turned to Alex and smiled, “You Alex, you are special. You’re existence, well, it gives us hope.”
These words alarmed Alex, it was crazy. She had no idea who “us” was, she had no idea who this woman was that stood before her wearing fake cat ears, a fake cat tail, who wore two guns on her hips and a sniper rifle on her back. While she wanted to run, she had no clue where she was, and running would probably leave her to be alone on the streets. Besides that the woman had been kind to her, and she at least the woman wasn’t trying to kill her.
Before the woman could continue on, a clattering rang out from the path they were traveling toward. Immediately the woman spins Alex and puts her hand on the back of her head, forcing it downward while moving her into the nearest open shop. Once inside she hisses for Alex to get behind the counter, where the woman crouches at the corner, dual guns drawn.
They continue traveling through the city, not a word passing between them. The only thing breaking the ominous silence are the footsteps of the two signs of life in the ruined urban landscape. The two probably could have made it to their destination faster, but taking no chances the woman with the fake cat ears took no chances to make sure they weren’t followed. They ducked in and out of alleys and moved through buildings so much that Alex lost complete track of any sense of location, on top of already not knowing where she was.
Finally, they rounded a corner in an alleyway and Alex’s face was greeted with the first warm light she’d seen since coming to the future.